At a glance
About this program
The Pesticide Illness and Injury Surveillance Program examines over-exposure to pesticides in the workplace.
We use this knowledge to prevent these exposures from happening. It also serves as an early warning system for harmful effects that pesticide manufacturer testing does not detect.
Data sources
We use two data sources to monitor work-related pesticide-related illnesses and injuries:
- Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risk-Pesticides (SENSOR-Pesticides) program data
- National Poison Data System (NPDS) data
SENSOR-Pesticides data
The SENSOR Program builds occupational illness and injury surveillance within state health departments. One of the conditions supported under SENSOR is acute occupational pesticide-related illness and injury. This is referred to as the "SENSOR-Pesticides" program.
Health departments use cooperative agreement funds from NIOSH and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for acute occupational pesticide-related illness/injury surveillance. If your state wants to participate in the SENSOR-Pesticides program, please contact us.
States participating in the SENSOR-Pesticides program receive federal funding and/or technical support.
Federal-funding and technical support
Technical support A
The SENSOR-Pesticides Program is recognized nationally as providing critical information for occupational and public health:
Influenced federal regulations
In September 2015, the EPA revised the Worker Protection Standard (WPS). The WPS was meant to reduce pesticide exposures among agricultural workers. This was the first major WPS revision in 20 years. SENSOR-Pesticides findings are extensively cited in the revised rules.
Improved pesticide applicator training and certification
In 2016, EPA revised regulations for pesticide applicator certification and training to ensure the competent use of "restricted use" pesticides (RUP). Findings from SENSOR-Pesticides are extensively cited in the announcement. This was the first major revision to these regulations in 40 years.
Safer pest control in schools
A SENSOR-Pesticides journal article on the national incidence of pesticide poisoning at schools was published in 2005. After this published, five states passed laws requiring schools to control pests using methods with the least possible health hazards.
Improved pesticide product labels
SENSOR-Pesticides findings led to label changes to improve clarity and safety for countless pesticide products. They also lead to state laws in California, Florida, and North Carolina to provide greater protection from pesticide hazards.
National Poison Data System (NPDS)
Besides the SENSOR-Pesticides Program data, we also use NPDS data for acute pesticide illness and injury surveillance.
About these data
In the United States, poison control centers receive phone calls reporting instances of poison exposure to adults and children. These centers serve all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Every phone call received is documented in the National Poison Data System (NPDS). The NPDS data are updated regularly.
How we use these data
We use NPDS data to track acute work-related pesticide poisonings. This is one of 25 Occupational Health Indicators tracked by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE)B.
Resources
MMWR is a CDC weekly scientific publication containing data and reports on specific health and safety topics. View selected pesticide-related MMWR articles in NIOSHTIC-2.
- View selected peer-reviewed, pesticide-related articles in NIOSHTIC-2.
- View the NIOSHTIC-2 database full search results on pesticides.
- federally unfunded SENSOR-Pesticides partners
- The Occupational Health Indicators were defined by the Occupational Health Surveillance Work Group that consists of NIOSH staff and state occupational health professionals working under the support of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE).